Coaxing Hammer info from AMD

By
10.17.2001 :: 11:27AM EST

The Register's Andrew Orlowski (in San Francisco, no less) was able to question AMD's Fred Weber about Hammer. The first thing Fred wanted to make clear was that Hammer, although it's a NUMA-like system (Non Uniform Memory Access–meaning that sometimes memory requests do not go to memory directly connected to a CPU), it does not suffer from the penalties associated with traditional NUMA designs (due to the high-speed of HT). Fred said (hehe) Hammer enjoys a 140 ns latency in a four-way and a 160 ns latency in an 8-way configuration. Both numbers are very respectable. Next, Andrew started asking questions about Hammer. He was able to discover that there is an x86-64 emulator that runs on Linux (this has been known for a while–it's available at www.x86-64.org). But what we didn't know is that they've been able to get Windows XP to properly boot on it! So, even in x86-64 emulator land, we've got WinXP a-bootin' (meaning that WinXP is now hogging up Linux's resources, too! *LAUGH*). Next, Fred said (hehe) Microsoft has explicit Hammer support already in WinXP. Several Hammer related headers have been seen in executables and Fred confirmed this with enthusiasm. Now here's the interesting part, Fred said (hehe) [Rob Note: getting a bit repetitive, no?] that Hammer is already capable of supporting CMP (Cellular MultiProcessing–multiple cores on a single die), but that AMD hasn't announced this yet. This means that in addition to the known four- and 8-way SMP design, and in addition to the real potential of seeing SMT in the future (where an application sees multiple CPUs on a single CPU), Hammer may receive CMP at some point (the ability to physically have multiple CPUs or CPU cores contained within a single CPU package, therefore making real the possibility of having an application see four or more CPUs from a single module that plugs into your motherboard–like the way the CPU gets plugged in today). One plug-in module, four CPUs available! That's an amazing announcement!! I'm really surprised I haven't seen more sites pick that up yet (but, at the time of this writing it's still early). CMP, SMT, and SMP … all in one package (potentially). It's looking to be a *VERY VERY* promising future for AMD. Yessiree, Bob! :)

USER COMMENTS 12 comment(s)

Question(11:34am EST Wed Oct 17 2001)In order for Hammer suport to already be in XP, wouldn't that mean tht Hammer is Very, very close to completion/release? We could be seeeing hammer in Q1 of 2002? If this the case, AMD is on a course to really put the hurt on Intel. VEry exciting times, indeed. – by SteveB

The Hammer might not be coming so soon…(12:36pm EST Wed Oct 17 2001)Just because WinXP can boot on a x86-64 emulater does not mean that any actual Hammer chips exist. I believe that Crusoe was making some chips that emmulate x86-64 for AMD to give companies like Microsoft and stuff. Also, Microsoft could have developed WinXP in the linux emulater – very ironic. – by food for thought

I would not bet on it….(2:33pm EST Wed Oct 17 2001)I believe AMD will stick with their current roadmap for the release of Hammer. Given the current state of affairs in the markets and with Intel, they don't need to rush.I wish it were not true, but that is just being realistic….This will be a very sweet product! – by LateNiteCrawler

Hammer release date(2:34pm EST Wed Oct 17 2001)Hammer is still expected no earlier than Q4 2002 or Q1 2003 with early 2003 seeming to be the more realistic release date in my view. I'm sure that throughout the year there will be additional predictions that Hammer is coming sooner, but there's a lot that goes into a chip release – chipsets, motherboards, BIOS, production, testing, etc. – by RobGeek

And more…(2:36pm EST Wed Oct 17 2001)AMD also is going to wait for 2 more generations of the Athlon before releasing the Hammer – the Thoroghbred – which will be .13 microns, and the Barton, which adds Silicon-on-Insulator technology to the process. Only then will Hammer even be ready for mass production. – by RobGeek

also(4:01pm EST Wed Oct 17 2001)hammer targets 64 Bit processing and workstations. AMD has to make sure that before release it is compiled for the latest applications and other enterprise application– by amdtel

Roadmaps & rumors(4:48pm EST Wed Oct 17 2001)The AMD roadmap still shows the Hammers (Sledge and Claw) and Barton in 2H02 – where they've been for quite a while – with no “fine granularity” as to which will come first. There's been a lot of speculation at various sites about how “early” or “late” any of the chips will be – rumors that ClawHammer will be early have been very popular – but there's been no official change in AMD's roadmap. Barton will be a follow-on to Thoroughbred, but I don't see why Hammer would “have to” follow Barton. If Hammer and all its associated new stuff is “ready to roll” before Barton, it could be the first AMD CPU line on SOI.

Presumably, the reason to go from Thoroughbred to Barton would be to lower the voltage and “wind the clock”. [With Thoroughbred's introduction in the first half of 02, and Barton's in the second half of 02, Thoroughbred starts to look something like the .18 P4 – a bridge halfway across the river.] – by rede duh numbahs

Repetitive “Fred said”'s(5:03pm EST Wed Oct 17 2001)

That's why it's so funny, Rob. I was reading that and re-reading it prior to submission. I was getting quite a kick out of it. :)

“The repetitive theme is among the most powerful in Cardassian literature.” – Garek to Captain Cisco on an episode of Deep Space Nine (the name escape me for the moment)

– by Rick C. Hodgin

repetitive themes –(5:53pm EST Wed Oct 17 2001)We could all join in with a “Fred said (hehe)” – that would make it an ancient form, the Geek chorus. – by rdn